A Christmas Story
by victrolannights
Summary: Six year-old Eleanor Grant is nearly ready to tell her parents about her well-planned Presidential bid, but all is threatened when the holiday season turns on her. Loosely based off the movie "A Christmas Story".


**So I just watched** _ **A Christmas Story**_ **for the first time in** _ **years**_ **and I randomly got an idea to write a fic loosely based off of it. I am next going to update** _ **The Investment**_ **, but I wanted to write a little holidays-inspired story because I think we need a little fluff in our lives. Not only do we really need it after 5x09, but it's the holidays! It's supposed to be a fluffy time. Take a break from the angst and treat yourself to something cute ;) I hope you guys like this!**

* * *

The snow crumbled beneath Eleanor's feet as she hopped out of her father's warm BMW and onto the sidewalk in front of her school. As always, he got out of his car to give her a goodbye kiss on the head. Last year, she wouldn't have been bothered by the gesture, but she was in the second grade now. He needed to stop treating her like a baby.

"Have a good day at school Li-Li. I love you." Fitz murmured before kissing the top of her curly head. Ellie squeezed her eyes shut to hide her grimace.

"I love you too Daddy." She gave him a quick hug and turned to get in her class line.

"Your mom is coming home from D.C. tonight and we're going to decorate the tree!" Her father informed her excitedly. Ellie turned around and smiled. She was genuinely excited to see her mother. She had been working hard in Washington for the past week to get an addition to the Brandon Bill signed into legislation before the new year.

"I can't wait!" She replied, smiling widely as she skipped up to line. While Olivia was sure that Eleanor was a Daddy's girl, there was no one she idolized more than her mother. She sometimes secretly stayed up past her bedtime and peeked down into the living room from above to watch her mother work. She was determined to be like her when she grew up. And her father too.

Eleanor Grant was going to be the first African-American female President.

She hadn't told her parents her plan yet because she was still working on the logistics, but it was going to happen.

She was sure of it.

Ellie was broken out of her reverie by a voice she knew far too well.

"What's up _Li-Li_?" The young boy sneered, kicking snow up to wet her stockings. Eleanor flipped her head around and glared at him.

"Nothing much _Charles_." She replied, trying her best to emulate her mother. She had watched her on C-Span with her father and had noted her every move. Olivia Pope did not raise her voice, stick her tongue out, or stoop down to the enemy's level.

She was simply too good for that.

Before Charles could taunt her any more, the bell rang and the lines of kids started moving through the doors. Ellie gave him one last glare before following her classmates inside. Her mother's words rung in her ears.

 _Stay above the fray Eleanor._

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

* * *

"Good morning my young scholars. Today we are going to be learning about all of the different types of holidays people in the United States celebrate during this time of year. Can any of you name some for me?" Miss Day asked. Ellie's hand immediately shot up, but her teacher annoyingly looked right over her in the front row and towards the back.

"Charles!" She called.

"Christmas!" He answered with a smile.

"That is one of the most widely celebrated holidays in our country, yes-" Eleanor rolled her eyes visibly. _Way to pick an easy one dimwit._ Miss Day wrote it on the board.

"-but there are many other holidays that people celebrate in the United States as well. Because we are a melting pot of people from all over the world, our fellow Americans celebrate holidays from many different cultures. Can anyone name another one?" Ellie was determined to get Miss Day's attention because she knew she had the greatest answer. She rose her hand so high that she was nearly standing up. Miss Day visibly sighed.

"Yes Ellie?" She murmured. Eleanor smiled.

"Kwanzaa. It was created in the sixties by an African-American professor to celebrate African culture and heritage. Ramadan is another one, which observes the ninth month of the Muslim year with a fast from morning until night." She answered fluidly. Any other teacher would have been shocked by this little girl's response, but after having her in the classroom for four months and taking into consideration who her parents were, Miss Day was not the littlest bit phased.

"Thank you Miss Grant for not only naming two holidays but also explaining them to the others in the class who may not have been familiar with them." Ellie turned and gave Charles a smug look after Miss Day turned to write Kwanzaa on the board. She settled back into her seat and crossed her hands.

"Anyone else have a holiday to add?"

"Hanukah!" Penelope added from next to Eleanor. Ellie gave her friend a nod of approval. It went up on the board.

"These are the main four." Miss Day summarized. Ellie raised her hand.

"Do you have more to add Ellie?" Miss Day said, knowing her "star" student far too well.

"Yes. I would like to add Three Kings Day and St. Lucia Day." She loved watching her teacher squirm.

"Thank you, those are also very important." Miss Day grumbled lowly as she did not have any lesson plan for those holidays. She should've known better than to ask an open-ended question with Eleanor Pope-Grant in the classroom.

"You each are going to get assigned one of these-" She turned to the board.

"-six holidays to do a little report on. With your parents' help, go online and learn more about your holiday. Then come to class prepared to share with your fellow classmates what you learned. We are going to invite all of your moms and dads too and have a little party!" The kids smiled with excitement, but no one was more excited than Ellie. She could show her mom that she was just like her and her dad that she could be President one day! She wiggled with excitement.

"Miss Grant, since you seem to know about a lot of the holidays already I am going to give you Christmas. See if you can find out more about it and share the new information with the class!" Miss Day could have sworn she saw her eye twitch as she sat frozen in her seat.

"When you get assigned your holiday, I want you to write it out on the paper in front of you as I have written it up here. Penelope, you are going to look up more about Ramadan-" Eleanor tuned her teacher out and grumpily wrote out her assigned holiday on her paper.

Why did she have to get assigned the most _boring_ holiday? She celebrated it with her family and loved it, but everyone already knew about Santa Clause and baby Jesus in the manger. She wanted to talk about something her classmates knew nothing about, like St. Lucia Day. She was pretty sure not even Miss Day knew what that was.

She put her head in her hand and waited for all of the assignments to be made so they could continue on to her favorite part of the day, Social Studies.

* * *

Eleanor and her friends bounded towards their usual hangout as the doors of the lunchroom opened up. The brisk air knocked them in their faces, but they were excited to play White House in the wooden cabin in the corner of the playground. She was always Eleanor Roosevelt, of course. Her friends were everyone from Madeline Albright to Michelle Obama. She had educated them all about these women and they were as dazzled by it as she was (or so at least she assumed). Ellie's face fell when she entered to find Charles already sitting inside.

"Can I be your Barack?" He teased, making a kissy face. Eleanor rolled her eyes.

"For your information, Eleanor Roosevelt was married to _Theodore_ Roosevelt, not Barack Obama." She shot back, crossing her arms. "Now get out of my house."

"You think you're so cool because your Daddy was the President and your Mommy is a Congresswoman. Well guess what, my Daddy says that President Grant was an _awful_ President and he took his job away. He said he cared more about hanging out with ladies than helping the country."

"That's not true! My Daddy is one of the best Presidents ever!" Charles sneered.

"Since he divorced his First Lady, he's probably gonna divorce your mom. Then he won't come see your boring presentation on boring Christmas. Your mom is only his wh-" Before Eleanor could even fathom what she was doing, she pummeled her shocked classmate onto the snowy ground outside of the cabin and started punching him in the chest and face. Charles screamed loudly, causing all of the children to stop whatever they were doing to watch. Boys and girls from all over ran to come witness the fight.

"Charles is getting beat up by a girl!" The boys yelled, laughing with glee. Ellie's friends giggled.

"I can't hit her back, she's a girl!" He screamed back, trying to defend himself with his arms.

"Oh yeah? Try me!" She taunted, stopping her blows momentarily. Charles swung for her, but she grabbed his arm and twisted it. He cried out in pain. The laughter was almost deafening, and the boys started to chant her name. Just as she began to hit him again, Miss Day yanked her off of him.

"Eleanor Grant! You are going straight to the Principal's Office!" She boomed, taking her hand and tugging her towards the doors. She smirked momentarily before the terror set in.

 _Presidents don't go to the Principal's Office_ , she thought, her heart beating fast. Her mom was going to be so disappointed in her! What was her dad going to do when they called him? She fought back tears as her teacher dragged her down the long hallway towards the main office.

* * *

An hour later, Eleanor sat with her knees to her face so she could wipe her tears with her stockings.

 _Okay_ , maybe it was also so the other students in the office didn't see her in her weakest moment.

Principal Cotter was s _till_ out to lunch, but the ladies in the office would not let her return to class. She felt like they were keeping her there to shame her in front of the other students in the school. She had taken residence in the seat in the far corner, praying her dad would be there soon to take her home like she was going to beg him to do. She was going to leave school early, transfer schools, and start afresh. She could convince her dad of anything; she was his everything.

 _Okay_ , maybe he did have three other kids that he loved. But she was special, or so she was told. Her parents had waited to have her for a very long time. She could work miracles with a blink of her doe eyes in his direction.

But when her Daddy spends time with Karen and Teddy, she gets jealous. She's scared that maybe he likes them better because they are his first kids. They don't cry like her little brother or beg him to play dress up like she does. He probably loves them way more. That's why she was so angered by Charles' words, even though she knew her dad would never miss her presentation. She also knew the word that he was going to call her mother. She had heard the 'w' word being used to describe her mother only once. She didn't know what it meant, but she didn't like it. At all. It was a dirty word and one her mother instructed her to never utter.

She wondered if her dad had ever gone to the Principal's office. Had a boy or girl ever made him so mad that he lost himself? What if when she decided to run they brought up her elementary school disciplinary record and showed it on every news network? That was the kind of scandal her mom used to handle. Now that her mom was a Congresswoman, she couldn't ask her to help with that. There was no one that could fix things better than her mom, so what would happen?

It would set her _way_ too far behind her opponent. Who was going to elect a fist-fighter into office? Being a politician is about fighting with words, not punches.

She put her hands over her eyes and took a deep breath. Maybe her best friend Zoe Rosen would grow up to be like her Aunt Abby and could help handle it for her. Or her Uncle Huck. He could hack the school's system and delete it from the records! That's what she was going to ask him to do for her Christmas gift.

 _Everything is going to be okay_ , she told herself, taking one last deep breath. She lowered her feet to the floor and wiped away stray tears.

Suddenly, her heart stopped. She heard a far too familiar rhythm of heels clicking against the floor, and they were making their way towards the office. She gripped the sides of the chair she was sitting in tightly as the door to the office swung open. The woman locked eyes with her.

Mommy was home early. And she did _not_ look very pleased.

* * *

 **How is Olivia going to react to the situation? Will Ellie be able to resist her Grant genes? :P Stay tuned.**

 **I always wondered how the world (i.e. Vermont) would take Fitz and Olivia's relationship if it reached this point. I think honestly there'd be a lot of gossip about it, unfortunately some of that falling on their kids. It's one of the things Olivia probably considered before making her decision in 5x09. We're going to get more of Charles' background in future chapters so don't hate on him just yet ;)**

 **This is so fun to write, I might just have to write the next update now. Leave a review and let me know what you think! Also do not forget to check out my holiday giveaway on my YouTube channel (AleccaOfficial) so you can go on a $40 Amazon shopping spree and treat yourself to a little makeup! Thank you all for the support and Happy Holidays!**


End file.
